Never more than 60 seconds to a more energized brand

Final numbers from the Super Bowl 2019 are flowing in. Most want to talk about the low ratings for the “most boring Super Bowl of all time.” However, advertisers are seeing a different story to their results. Here are few highlights from Marketing Charts:

The most-viewed ad online was Stella Artois, “Change Up the Usual.” The commercial had more than 48 million views across top video platforms and websites.

The brand with the most online mentions on social media was Pepsi. It had 72,000 social mentions during the Super Bowl.

The most mentioned advertiser on social media during the entire day was the Bud Light ad mash up with HBO Game of Thrones.

Even though the game’s ratings were down from the previous year, 67% of homes with TVs were tuned to the game. CBS stream to the Super Bowl to an additional 7.5 million unique devises which was up 20% from last year.

What all this tells you is that you can’t focus just on the rating of a particular show. It’s an integrated media world that requires attention on all platforms to really win.

You remember the marketing mix from your advertising classes: “The marketing mix refers to the set of actions or tactics that a company uses to promote its brand in the market.”

If I remember my college marketing classes, the definition was based on the fact that you consumed one medium at a time. As with everything, the internet has disrupted this notion. 45% of people say they use another digital devise while watching TV. With nearly half of the audience holding a smart device in their hand while watching TV would change how people watch TV.

In my early career in TV, there was a saying “Tease don’t tell” for promotion and anchor news ads during the day. But now, with the power of phone, I just look up what is teased. The Today Show was teasing a video “you will not believe what this dog can do on skis.” I just did a quick search and found the video on YouTube and watched while in the commercial break.

You also need to be more aware of sound in your advertising. Since people may not be looking at the screen, make sure the audio sells your message.

You may also want to provide key words for people to look up. More than 70% of people using a digital device say they look up information related to content they are seeing. Tell them what to search when they are getting ready to look.

If you’ve hired a lot of millennials lately to market to millennials, you may be taking your eye off a large and lucrative prize.

Epsilon’s latest report on generational marketing shows that baby boomers are still outspending the other generations on an annual basis. Boomers are spending a total of $548 billion, and millennials are spending $322 billion. The forgotten Gen Xers are spending $357 billion.

In the study, boomers have fewer average total transactions, but the boomer average spend per transaction is higher. The largest median income is $63,832 held by Gen X, yet baby boomer median income is twice that of millennials.

Before you turn over your entire marketing budget to one generation, you may want to consider the diversity of buyers who have spending power to spare. Even the Silent generation (age 76 and older) spends more than $162 billion annually.

Time to make sure you have your eye on the prize and your focus on the actual results. There’s no room for crying and age bias in marketing, especially when there is money on the table.

Have you ever had lunch at a car dealership? I mean, pack up the family and go to the local dealer for a sandwich and soup? I now have and I’d like to say it was fantastic. Ivy Bake Shoppe & Cafe is located in the Shottenkirk car dealership in Burlington, Iowa.

The food was great. The service was on par. The car dealership added some interest and energy to the experience. But this is part of a growing trend of business finding cross-selling synergies.

Walmart is finding that there is new value in their stores and online traffic. With more than 300 million shoppers visiting its stores each month, that audience is substantial. That kind of number means a lot of data. And data means dollars.

Forrester Research reports that between the month visits and the millions others on its website, Walmart can draw in more than Facebook or Amazon in the US. And does Walmart have a story about advertisers according to Bloomberg News: “Facebook might know what your customers like, and Google might know what they want, but only we (Walmart) know what they actually buy.”

The ad and data sales will ad a huge alternate revenue stream for Walmart and will help foster other innovations from the retail. It’s a little like ordering a sandwich at a dealership.

There has been some talk about the “failing” New York Times, but it is becoming the newspaper of the future.

The New York Times put an electronic paywall in place in 2011, and many predicted it would fail. Today there are more than 2.5 million electronic subscribers. Average subscription is $100 per year. You can do the math. Also, there is no cost for paper, printing and delivering. So mostly profit.

During an earnings call, the CEO said that success of electronic subscriptions is due to the quality and creativity of its journalism. In other words, interesting, fresh content. The Times curates its own content; it doesn’t rehash other outlets’ content.

This proves people will pay for fresh news, especially during what is considered turbulent times. It may be a look at the future of newspapers.

Have you sat in a meeting when someone says, “But what about millennials? We have to start attracting millennials.” Unfortunately, most people seem to believe that after boomers you have millennials, but there is a forgotten generation — Gen X.

If you forget Gen X, then you are missing the gap group that is beginning to exercise its place in society. Gen Xers were born between 1965 and 1979. Gen Xers are currently 39 to 53 years old. More than 80 million people are Gen X.

Here are a few key stats about Gen X:

Gen X earns 31% of total US income even though Gen X only accounts for 25% of population

They outspend other generations for housing, clothing, eating out and entertainment

Gen X makes $50,400 compared with $34,420 for millennials

35% of Xers have college degrees compared with 19% of millennials

If you’re getting ready for millennials, you’re going to miss an entire generation of customers, donors and stakeholders.

Do you have words you just don’t like? At the risk of sounding snarky, I have a few words in advertising that really bug me.

The words are vast (and vast array), myriad, excellence and strive.

Strive: You see this a lot in mission and vision statements. Striving does not mean achieving. The word is defined as to struggle or fight vigorously. Replace strive in your mission statement or advertising with the words, vigorously fight or struggle against. I think you’ll see a difference.

Myriad: I’ve used this word myriad times, but it always sounds pretentious. It shouldn’t be used in marketing.

Vast or Vast Array: I heard this word in a furniture ad referring to its vast selection. It just sounds wrong to my ear. The Grand Canyon is vast, a row of La-Z-Boys is not.

Tradition of Excellence: It is definitely time for this phrase to go. It is such a lazy phrase, and colleges/universities seem to enjoy using this phrase most often. In all our research, I’ve never heard a teenager (or parent for that matter) say they want to go to a college with a “tradition of excellence.” When you think of services you have received recently, do you ever think “excellence” or a “tradition of excellence.”

I saw this JWU digital ad for an online education experience. It’s so excellent, it has “competitively priced degree programs,” but the rest of the copy on the landing page is too hard to read because there is a photo behind the text — again, more excellence.

Hard to live up to a tradition of excellence. Better to be honest and more straightforward.